Resources on the Trinity

Last night, at our weekly Cru Live meeting on campus, we had a discussion on the Trinity. Here are several resources to help you dig deeper.

Thinking About the Trinity

Check out two brief articles to begin. First, Can You Explain the Trinity? from Then, Why Must God Be a Trinity?, a post I wrote a few years back on this site.

Why is the Trinity not polytheism? Consider the answers from and The last paragraph from GotQuestions will rack your brain, but it’s worth pondering. Here’s a snippet: “Essentially, God has three centers of self-consciousness. Yet this one Being (the triune God of Scripture) possesses one indivisible essence.” Deep stuff.

The Trinity in Church History

Take a few minutes to read two historic creeds from around 1600-1700 years ago. Why is it worth your time? To remind you that you aren’t the first person to grapple with the mystery of the three-in-one, one-in-three God.

Read the The Athanasian Creed (composed fifth to early sixth century AD), which states, “That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.”

Read the Nicene Creed (adopted at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325), which, as you’ll notice, is Trinitarian in its very structure. It clearly states that each person in the Trinity is God and, yet, as it explains, each person is distinct and has a different function in the godhead.

False Teachings About the Trinity

Here’s a very brief summary of the primary false teachings (i.e. heresies) on the Trinity you need to be aware of. Every Christian cult will adopt one of these positions.

You made it this far. Now for a little satirical humor. If you’ve read the link above about Trinitarian heresies, you’ll appreciate this video. If nothing else, the words, “Come on, Patrick!” with an Irish accent will be (happily) embedded into your brain.

Before watching the video, however, let me speak up for my brother Patrick. Legend has it that Patrick used various illustrations to describe the Trinity. The point of the video is to show how illustrations actually teach heresy. The truth is, Patrick was actually a good missionary and we have no evidence that he used the illustrations in the video. Still, the video is hilarious and makes the point: you can’t use finite illustrations to explain an infinite God.